The Controversies Of Trump’s Paris Trip, Explained

President Donald Trump spent barely two days in France, but his brief visit revealed the widening rift between the United States and its Western allies.

President Donald Trump spent barely two days in France, but his brief visit revealed the widening rift between the United States and its Western allies.

The president traveled to Paris on Friday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I — and because he was upset that he couldn’t have his own military parade. By Sunday, he had departed, just in time to miss the inaugural Paris Peace Forum, a three-day event promoting international cooperation and multilateralism.

The forum, which was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, represents an antidote to rising nationalism in the West and around the world and a not-so-subtle rebuke of the kind of “America First” politics Trump espouses. But the president’s decision to blow off the event was merely the bookend to a rocky foreign visit.

Among other things, Trump attacked Macron on Twitter ahead of their meeting. And Macron used his WWI Armistice Day commemoration speech to denounce nationalism, with Trump looking on.Trump skipped a visit to a World War I battlefield because of bad weather, sending other officials in his place. He also seemed to express enthusiasm for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants to drive a wedge between the US and Europe.

Given Trump’s somewhat icy interactions with Macron, a picture of Trump beaming at Putin — while Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stare back, stone-faced — was a stark visual reminder of the schisms among allies.

Trump’s whirlwind trip to Paris should have followed a simple playbook: meeting with Macron, solemn remembrance and reflection, and brief remarks. Instead, Trump’s trip abroad highlighted how America’s partnerships are weakening under his leadership.

The United States didn’t enter WWI — the “war to end all war” — until conflict had been raging for years, but it wrenched America out of its traditional isolationism and marked its ascendance as a world power. A century later, Trump has set the United States on a markedly different course, pulling inward and rejecting international cooperation. The president’s trip to Paris made that clear.

A bilateral bromance sours, and the rift with Europe grows

At the beginning of Trump’s presidency, Macron was one of the few Western leaders Trump seemed to personally like, weird handshakes aside.

The French president recognized Trump’s transactional style, and sought to flatter and impress him during one-on-one visits. Macron wasn’t always successful in getting through to Trump — the president announced he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord and Iran deal, despite Macron’s entreaties — but the two seemed to get along.

But Macron has also carefully, and very publicly, distanced himself from Trump’s brand of isolationist politics.

He has criticized Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw from the Paris climate deal, and his United Nations General Assembly speech in September explicitly embraced the multilateralism that Trump rejects. Macron has also used the US’s retreat from the world stage as an opportunity to anoint Francethe defender of Western values.

The tensions between Trump and Macron were apparent before the two even met face to face this weekend. Ahead of their sit-down, Trump blasted Macron for a comment he had made to the press earlier in the week. Macron had expressed support for a European army to counter the rise of Russia and China, one that would help wean European countries off their dependence on the US.

Trump responded to Macron’s comments en route to his meeting with the French president, calling the proposal “very insulting.”

President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China and Russia. Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the U.S. subsidizes greatly!

However, the two seemed to have smoothed things out ahead of their bilateral meeting, with Macron telling reporters during a photo op with Trump: “We need a much better burden-sharing in NATO. My proposals on European defense are consistent with that.”

But the show for the cameras seemed just that — a show. During Macron’s address on Sunday, the official anniversary of the armistice that ended WWI, he sharply and forcibly denounced nationalism, calling it a “betrayal of patriotism.” He also warned that “giving in to the fascination for withdrawal, isolationism, violence, and domination would be a grave error.”

Macron didn’t mention Trump by name, but it was a clear reprimand of the US president’s preferred foreign policy approach.

According to NBC News Trump “appeared to grimace while offering muted and delayed applause” after Macron’s remarks. He later thanked Macron on Twitter, and praised the “beautiful ceremony.” He didn’t address the topic of Macron’s speech directly.

Later that day, Macron presided over the opening of the first annual Paris Peace Forum. The three-day event was devised to bring together heads of state, local governments, international organizations, and civil society and religious groups to talk about how to revive collective governance and international cooperation at a time “when global challenges have never been so pressing.” It’s a “Davos of democracy,” French officials told France24.

Trump, however, chose not to attend the forum — which undoubtedly strengthened the message that Macron was trying to send.

Trump cancels WWI memorial visit because rain

Trump really loved the Bastille Day military parade when he visited France in July — so much so that he wanted to host his own in Washington, DC. The high cost of the event stymied his plans, so he decided to travel to Paris this weekend instead.

The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up! I will instead…

….attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!

But if Trump expected a “celebration” in Paris, he didn’t exactly get it. The World War I commemoration was a somber affair, a reflection on a continent ravaged by war and an unsteady peace that brought it back into conflict two decades later.

Trump also didn’t make it to some of the headlining events. On Saturday, the White House announced that Trump’s trip to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial was canceled “due to scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather.”

It was raining, and Marine One had been grounded because of poor visibility. But as critics pointed out, the cemetery — where more than 2,000 US troops are buried — is just 60 miles from Paris.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump didn’t go by motorcade because he “did not want to cause that kind of unexpected disruption to the city and its people.” Instead, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford attended in Trump’s place.

Both served in the Marine Corps, and Aisne-Marne holds a special significance for that branch of the armed forces, as the Washington Post pointed out:

A brigade of Marines joined two Army divisions in the closing months of the war and fought brutal hand-to-hand combat in the wood, occasionally contending with swirling poison gas. The Germans sent numerous waves in a failed attempt to dislodge the Marines during the battle, which lasted nearly a month.

“President @realDonaldTrump a no-show because of raindrops? Those veterans the president didn’t bother to honor fought in the rain, in the mud, in the snow – & many died in trenches for the cause of freedom,” former Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted. “Rain didn’t stop them & it shouldn’t have stopped an American president.”

British Conservative MP Nicholas Soames, who also happens to be Winston Churchill’s grandson, tweeted that the “pathetic inadequate @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen.”

On Sunday, Trump did manage to visit Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial outside of Paris (even in spite of the rain) and delivered remarks honoring the united efforts of France and the US in WWI. “It is our duty to preserve the civilization they defended, and to protect the peace they so nobly gave their lives to secure one century ago,” he said.

However, his absence from the memorial on Saturday seemed to overshadow this visit. Even the French army took a shot. “There is rain, but it does not matter,” they wrote in a tweet on Monday that was translated by the Washington Post. “We remain motivated.”

Trump’s Paris visit spotlights America’s isolation

While the US president was not visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery on Saturday, Merkel and Macron attended an event together. Macron posted an image of the two of them, with the caption “Unis” — “United.”